Automated mount/umount of cdroms

nexus- · #1 12th September 2004, 04:25 PM

I was wondering why is there nothing (at least not that I know of) in Linux which will handle mount/umount (umount at least) of cdroms when the button is pressed?

It really seems counter productive to use a daemon such as automount to umount devices after a period of time instead of when the user presses the eject button on the cdrom.

Am I missing a point or is it really an unaddressed issue as yet?

crackers · #2 12th September 2004, 06:06 PM

Part of the issue is how the mounting subsystems work - you can't simply auto-unmount and eject a mounted drive when there's an active "session" working in that mounted file system. There's been mention of a bug with fam that doesn't "release" the mounted filesystem correctly; you could be "browsing" the filesystem with Nautilus or Konqueror; there's quite a few other filesystem "clients" that could be using it. This feature (and it is a feature) is to prevent active progams from crashing that are depending upon the underlying filesystem to be present and working.

In other words, you can't yank the carpet out from underneath an active program.

nexus- · #3 12th September 2004, 06:29 PM

But shouldn't programs try to handle such errors?

Or if the filesystem is in use the cdrom just won't eject. That would be sensible and convenient at the same time!

#4 12th September 2004, 07:01 PM

thats exaclty what happens. if you try to unmount a cdrom and something is using it, the mount deamon will give you an error and the program will continue to run without a hitch and the cdrom won't eject. if the program handle the error, it would crash and tell you the file is no longer available, and you might loose any work you were working on. is this desirable? didn't think so.
what is so inconvenient about not having your programs crash?

nexus- · #5 13th September 2004, 05:28 AM

But the cdrom won't eject as well even if there is nothing using the files until it is umounted, wouldn't it be better if a user would be able to umount the cdrom and eject using the button if there is nothing using the cdrom?

#6 13th September 2004, 05:36 AM

yes, that would be convenient. essentially preesing the eject buttin should be the same as giving the umount command. perhaps you should request this feature in the fedora bugzilla.

kosmosik · #7 13th September 2004, 07:35 AM

you can load cdrom driver without tray locking... but it is not advised...

Code:

% modinfo cdrom                                                               ~
filename:    /lib/modules/2.4.22-1.2199.nptl/kernel/drivers/cdrom/cdrom.o
description: <none>
author:      <none>
license:     "GPL"
parm:        debug int
parm:        autoclose int
parm:        autoeject int
parm:        lockdoor int
parm:        check_media_type int

nexus- · #8 17th September 2004, 06:29 PM

Hmm I think I'll just post a feature request so that pressing the button should issue the "eject" command. Lets see if it has been posted before...

lakerssuperman · #9 27th October 2004, 02:34 PM

I have raised this question myself on this forum. Mandrake and Suse can handle automatic unmounting of cdrom media, why cant fedora. I have never had a problem with my system or data integrity with either of these distros. I understand why the drive stays locked and the need to manually unmount a volume. But if it was so dangerous why would 2 major distros choose to implement such a feature. I like using fedora, but this is one of my biggest problems with it. Experienced computer users understand the concept of mount/unmount. Basic users simply shouldnt have to deal with this aspect. This is one the areas that fedora needs to improve upon if it is to be taken seriously as a desktop os. So many people in the linux community are talking about adoption of linux by the masses. This is one feature that I feel would strongly hold fedora back as a viable candidate when compared with the other distros that have these features that users are accustomed to. Again, I am not bashing fedora and have been playing with the core 3 betas for some time now and they are very well done.

kosmosik · #10 27th October 2004, 07:32 PM

because what makes you think that when you press [eject] the media is not in use?

Shadow Skill · #11 27th October 2004, 09:41 PM

I've wondered about that too, but I haven't actually loaded any cd/dvd while using fedora in a while so I'm not sure if the testing versions do this as well, I'll have to check after I get around to reformatting my Linux partition.

ghight · #12 28th October 2004, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakerssuperman

This is one feature that I feel would strongly hold fedora back as a viable candidate when compared with the other distros that have these features that users are accustomed to.

Hmmm, I would hope not. That seems rather petty, but to each his own. Right click>Eject doesn't seem so inconvenient to me.

Duli · #13 14th November 2006, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghight

Hmmm, I would hope not. That seems rather petty, but to each his own. Right click>Eject doesn't seem so inconvenient to me.

Sure it's not!

Please, correct if I'm wrong:

But what about when you want to burn something on the cd/dvd? If it's mounted you won't be able to do it. So rightclick > eject wouldn't be enough in this case, because the cd/dvd would be ejected (and you want to burn on it). My question: Is it possible, at least, to create a icon that does the "umount /dev/hdc, cd, dvd" for you? And is it possible to do the other way around, I mean, when the cd is already in (but not mounted), how would you automatically mount it with a icon (other than rightclicking on it and pressing "mount")?

By the way, if there's a rightclick option of "mount", why there is not one of "unmount"?

Thanks for the help guys! I just would like to create two icons on a friend's fedora box (one to unmount and one to mount). Is it possible?

I appreciate any comments!
Cheers!
Duli